Shoe rack for a closet

ABSTRACT

A shoe rack that, when hanging from a closet clothes rod, has positioning legs that maintains it in a clearance position from an adjacent closet wall, such that shoes can be stored on the rack with their soiled soles facing into the clearance space and thus in a position not likely to contact, and thus soil, any clothes in the closet.

O United States Patent 1191 1111 3,913,745

Weiss Oct. 21, 1975 1 SHOE RACK FOR A CLOSET 2,299,021 10/1942 Hoffman 211/34 2389910 11/1945 H ffm'n 211/34 [76] Inventor: f welssi 2 Ave-1 2,943,899 7/1960 8:111: .1 211/119 Mernck, NY. 11566 22] Ffl d; 1 974 Primary Examiner-Patrick D. Lawson Attorney, Agent, or FirmBauer & Amer [21) Appl. No.: 532,851

{57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl 211/34; 21 l/l 19 A shoe rack that, when hanging from a closet clothes [51] Int. Cl. A47F 7/08 rod, has positioning legs that maintains it in a clear- [58] Field oi Search 211/34, 35, 113, 119; ance position from an adjacent closet wall, such that 12/128 R shoes can be stored on the rack with their soiled soles facing into the clearance space and thus in a position [56] References Cited not likely to contact and thus soil any clothes in the UNITED STATES PATENTS closetl,977,5l2 10/1934 Hills 211/35 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures US. Patent 0a. 21, 1975 3,913,745

snos RACK son A CLOSET The present invention relates generally to a shoe rack, and more particularly to an improved vertically suspended shoe rack for a clothes closet or the like.

Vertically supported shoe racks, capable of use in a typical clothes closet, are already well known in their general aspects, as exemplified by the shoe racks of prior U.S. Pats. No. 2,066,823, No. 1,977,512, No. 2,299,021 and No. 2,389,910. These known shoe racks, however, achieve little more than to make use of the closet clothes rod as an elevated support. While a vertical orientation has the obvious advantage of providing readily accessible structure for mounting shoes thereon while requiring minimum closet space, the aforesaid closet shoe racks are not believed to be widely used. Among other drawbacks, they expose the clothes being stored in the closet to soilingby contact with the shoes placed on the rack.

Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved closet-type shoe rack overcoming the foregoing and other shortcomings of the prior art. Specifically, it is an object to provide a vertically oriented closet shoe rack that delineates a separate closet area for use as shoe-storage space, thereby obviating soiling contact by the shoes mounted thereon with any clothes being stored in the closet.

A shoe rack intended for use in a closet area which demonstrates objects and advantages of the present invention includes an arrangement of plural shoesupports and means for supporting said arrangement on the closet support rod in a position next to the closet end wall. From this position, positioning means on the rack extend laterally into contact with the closet wall so as to maintain the shoe-support members of the rack in a clearance position relative to the closet wall. As a consequence, shoe are advantageously readily supported on the shoe-support members with the soiled soles thereof facing into the established clearance space so as not to soil any clothes in said closet.

The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description of a presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative embodiment in accordance with the present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a closet shoe rack demonstrating objects and advantages of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view illustrating further structural features of the shoe rack; and

FIG. 3 is a partial front elevational view illustrating still further features of the rack.

Reference is now made to the drawings wherein there is shown a shoe rack, generally designated 10, which has an advantageous storage position within the confines of a clothes closet 12. In a manner which will be described in detail subsequently, rack is an effective product for having supported or mounted thereon shoes 14, without having the soiled soles thereof possibly coming in contact with, and thereby soiling any clothes 16 which are hanging from the horizontally oriented rod 18 of the closet 12.

A preferred embodiment of the rack 10 which achieves the objective just named includes left and right rod-like side members 20 and 22 joined together by horizontally oriented spaced apart rods 24. As is perhaps best illustrated in FIG. 3, rack 10 includes at its upper end a transversely oriented member 26 having a semi-circular indentation 28 having a medial location therealong. Indentation 28 is placed over the clothes rod 18 and partially closed loops 30 and 32 are then slipped over the ends of the side members 20 and 22. In this manner, rack 10 is supported from the clothes rod 18 and provided with a vertical orientation within the closet 12.

To prevent, as indicated earlier, any contact between the soiled soles 34 (see FIG. 2), of any stored shoes 14 with any clothes 16 in the closet 12, the side members 20 and 22 of rack 10 are provided with four laterally extending leg-like extensions 36, 38, 40 and 42, each being located at a corner of the rack 10. In the storage or vertically oriented condition of the body of the rack 10, the legs 36, 38, 40 and 42 have a lateral or horizontal orientation and are adapted, as best illustrated in FIG. 2, to make contact with the vertical wall 44 which bounds the closet area 12. That is, the aforementioned legs maintain the generally rectangular planar body of the rack 10, which consists of the side members 20, 22 and the connecting or spanning rods 23, in a clearance position from the wall 44. Stated another way, said legs provide a clearance space 46 between the side members 20 and 22 and the wall 44. Naturally, in this regard, the hooking indentation 28 is located along the rod 18 at an appropriate distance which pennits contact of the ends of the legs with the wall 44. To prevent marring or marking of the wall 44, rubber caps 48 are force fit on each of the legs 36, 38, 40 and 42.

Completing the construction of the rack 10 are shoesupporting members, individually and collectively designated 50, arranged side by side in attached relation to the transversely oriented rods 24. As illustrated, the shoe supports 50 have an appropriate shape which permit the shoes to be placed in covering relation over the shaped support, as illustrated in phantom perspective in FIG. 2 as well as in full line perspective in FIG. 1. Proper use of rack 10 contemplates that each shoe 14 will be placed on a cooperating shoe support 50 with the soiled sole 34 located within the clearance space 46 and in facing relation to the wall 44. This effectively keeps the soiled soles 34 out of contact with any clothes 16 being stored in the closet 12.

If desired, the shoe-supports 50 can be utilized as a storage shelf, rather than to support shoes. To this end, the rods 24 are rotatably disposed in the side members 20 and 22 so that, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the members 50 can be urged through a pivotal traverse changing their vertical orientation into a horizontal orientation. Members 50 having this horizontal orientation are designated by the reference numeral 52 in FIGS. 1, 2 and, when functioning as a shelf, can readily be used for supporting a pocketbook 54 or the like.

A latitude of modification, change and substitution is intended in the foregoing disclosure, and in some instances some features of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the spirit and scope of the invention herein.

What is claimed is:

1. A shoe rack for a closet of the type having a closet clothes rod which is suspended in an elevated position within said closet by having at least one end thereof supported by a vertically oriented closet wall bounding the area defining said closet, said shoe rack comprising a generally rectangular planar body formed of an arrangement of plural shoe-support members, means for supporting said body from said closet clothes rod in a location therealong adjacent said closet wall, and a leg at each corner of said body extending laterally into contact with said closet wall so as to maintain said shoe-support members in a clearance position relative to said closet wall, whereby shoes are advantageously supported on said shoe-support members with the soiled soles thereof facing into said clearance so as not to soil any clothes in said closet.

2. A shoe rack for a closet as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means for supporting said body from said closet clothes rod consists of a rod-like member having a shaped indentation therein at a medial location for hooking about said closet clothes rod, said rod-like member being further adapted to be connected in spanning relation between two said positioning legs.

3. A shoe rack for a closet as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plural shoe-support members are arranged slong pivotally mounted support rods, whereby a pivotal traverse provides said shoe-support members with a horizontal orientation contributing to the use of same as storage shelves.

4. A shoe rack for a closet as claimed in claim 3 wherein said support rods are mounted in spanning relation between two side frame members, and said positioning means is comprised of four legs, each located at opposite ends of said two side frame members.

5. A shoe rack for a closet as claimed in claim 4 wherein said means for supporting said body from said clothes rod consists of a rod-like member having a shaped indentation therein at a medial location for hooking about said closet clothes rod, said rod-like member being further adapted to be connected in spanning relation between two said positioning legs.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT N0. 2 3,913,745

DATED I October 21, 1975 |NVENTOR( EUGENE WEISS Hiscmflfiedmatmmramwaminmeamwe-memfimdpmemandflmtsmdLeUmsPamm are hereby corrected as shown below:

Claim 3, line 3, change "slong" to -along Signcd and Scaled this sixth D y of January 1976 [SEAL] Arrest:

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN Arresting Officer Commissioner of Parents and Trademarks 

1. A shoe rack for a closet of the type having a closet clothes rod which is suspended in an elevated position within said closet by having at least one end thereof supported by a vertically oriented closet wall bounding the area defining said closet, said shoe rack comprising a generally rectangular planar body formed of an arrangement of plural shoe-support members, means for supporting said body from said closet clothes rod in a Location therealong adjacent said closet wall, and a leg at each corner of said body extending laterally into contact with said closet wall so as to maintain said shoe-support members in a clearance position relative to said closet wall, whereby shoes are advantageously supported on said shoe-support members with the soiled soles thereof facing into said clearance so as not to soil any clothes in said closet.
 2. A shoe rack for a closet as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means for supporting said body from said closet clothes rod consists of a rod-like member having a shaped indentation therein at a medial location for hooking about said closet clothes rod, said rod-like member being further adapted to be connected in spanning relation between two said positioning legs.
 3. A shoe rack for a closet as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plural shoe-support members are arranged slong pivotally mounted support rods, whereby a pivotal traverse provides said shoe-support members with a horizontal orientation contributing to the use of same as storage shelves.
 4. A shoe rack for a closet as claimed in claim 3 wherein said support rods are mounted in spanning relation between two side frame members, and said positioning means is comprised of four legs, each located at opposite ends of said two side frame members.
 5. A shoe rack for a closet as claimed in claim 4 wherein said means for supporting said body from said clothes rod consists of a rod-like member having a shaped indentation therein at a medial location for hooking about said closet clothes rod, said rod-like member being further adapted to be connected in spanning relation between two said positioning legs. 